Comforts: 70 stone man Paul lies in his bed surrounded by everything he needs to get through the day

And it emerged today that Mr Mason actually had an ambition to become the world's fattest man. He lost 20 stone in hospital three years ago but reportedly told staff he didn't really want to lose the weight.

After leaving the medical unit, he gorged himself on three family-sized takeaways every day and even ate whole boxes of Sugar Puffs in one go.

The total cost of his care, accommodation, benefits, medical equipment
and treatment is estimated at more than £100,000 a year and has so far
topped £1 million.

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Neighbours yesterday described him as friendly and popular but
said they often went months without seeing him because he was so often
bed-ridden.

Mr Mason was unable even to attend the funeral of his mother, Janet, who died six weeks ago and with whom he had lived.

Lounging about: Briton Paul Mason is so overweight he needs to be airlifted to hospital to try and reduce his weight

Big load: An Asda grocery van re-stocks food for Paul

Friends said Mr Mason has been warned he could die within months if
he does not have urgent surgery, such as having a gastric band fitted.

Sue Horne, 55, said: 'He is a really nice bloke who realises he
has got a problem. The last time I saw him was when the weather was
warmer.

'His carers used to wheel him out in his huge bed on his driveway.'

Paul (right) is pictured here in 2007, when he weighed 45-stone. He was able to go out on his own in a specially-modified wheelchair, but his weight has since ballooned to an incredible 70 stone

Mr Mason lives with his two cats in a bungalow in Ipswich
provided by the Suffolk Heritage Housing Association, which is fitted
with specially widened doors.

He relies on a team of seven carers, working three eight-hour shifts, to cook his food and clean up after him.

He has a reinforced toilet seat in the bathroom and a physiotherapist visits to stretch his legs and perform chest massages to prevent deep vein thrombosis and pneumonia.

The photograph shows Mr Mason reclining on a bed and, dangling
to his right, a remote control for adjusting the height and angle.

On the same side is a hospital issue over-bed table, upon which
sits a fruit bowl with oranges and bananas, a document holder that
appears to contain medical notes, and a tea tray.

He also has:

Cleansing equipment, which is used by carers to bathe him because he is too big for a shower

A lightbox, which helps to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) caused by lack of sun

A TV and Playstation, to entertain him while he lays in bed

An inflatable slide, to enable him to slip out of his bed and into a wheelchair without the danger of a fall

Paul's former house in Ipswich had an extra-wide front door to enable him to get his wheelchair out. In 2002 he was 'rescued' from the property by firefighters

In the background is what seems to be a fridge containing snacks and
cold drinks and a tall steel frame, to which a pulley system can be
attached to lift him.

A black computer stands near a monitor with an internet camera on
top, suggesting he keeps in contact with the outside world via the
internet.

There is a selection of computer games and DVDs on the top shelf.

Details of Mr Mason's solitary existence came to light this week
as it emerged he needs to be transported 150 miles from his home to
Chichester, West Sussex, to receive life-saving weight-loss surgery at
a specialist NHS centre.

Doctors were considering an airlift at a cost of £20,000 and there were reports this could even involve an RAF Chinook.

Paul needs to be transported 152 miles from his home in Ipswich, Suffolk, to hospital in Chichester, West Sussex

But NHS Suffolk is now looking at a land-based transfer using a £90,000 ambulance strengthened to handle obese patients.

A health care insider told The Sun Mr Mason was disappointed when he lost 20 stone in hospital.

'When he left he moaned he was missing the chance of becoming the world's heaviest man,' said the source. 'And when he got home he ordered takeaway pizzas, curries and Chinese meals.'

Bob Singh Phagura, manager of the Nacton Road Fish Bar in Ipswich, said every Friday Mr Mason would come to his shop with his carers and buy:

Four large cod

Two pies

Four battered sausages

Six large portions of chips

Mushy peas and curry sauce

All washed down with bottles of Coke

'He would wait outside as we couldn't fit him or his wheelchair into the shop,' said Mr Singh Phagura. 'His carers would take away the food. It was ten times more than a normal person would eat.'

It has also emerged that Mr Mason would roll his 3ft-wide wheel-chair through a McDonald's drive-thru to pick up huge quantities of burgers and chips.

Relatives described how he began putting on weight in his
late teens when his father Roy, a former military policeman, died.

'Before he lost his father he was in the Salvation Army band
and he was quite slim and trim,' said his aunt, Margaret Smy, 71, also
from Ipswich.

'But he was very close to his dad and his death hit him hard. Then he had some other problems and everything just snowballed.

'He was also close to his mother so losing her recently must
have really knocked him. I am sure he is feeling low because of her
death.

'I went to her funeral but he was unable to attend because he was bed-ridden. It was videoed so he could watch it at home.'

The last world's fattest man: Manuel Uribe was driven around his hometown in Mexico, his first trip outside for five years, to celebrate losing 400 pounds in 2007

In 1986, at the age of 26, he weighed 25 stone and went to
doctors for help. But he was turned down for a stomach-stapling
operation and was told to go on a diet.

By 2002, he had reached 56 stone and a 5ft window at his
former home had to be removed and a forklift truck brought in to lift
him when he needed to go to hospital for a hernia operation.

Paul Mason as a toddler aged about 18 months old

He subsequently lost ten stone over the next nine months after limiting himself to 2,800 calories per day.

His diets have included one where he was only allowed four pints of milk each day, flavoured with Oxo, plus a few bananas.

Mr Mason went up to 60 stone in 2006 and back to 45 stone the
following year before piling on more pounds to reach his current weight
of 70 stone, believed to be a current world record.

A friend, who asked not to be named, said: 'Paul just cannot
help himself when it comes to food but the doctors have told him that
this is his last chance.

'He has been warned that he could die within months unless he does something to reduce his weight.'

In an interview in 2003, Mr Mason said how his weight ballooned as he consumed vast amounts of junk food and snacks.

'It is like alcohol to an alcoholic,' he said. 'I would spend about £30 a week on chocolate.'

'I would eat takeaways and deliberately save half so that I could eat some when I got up in the middle of the night.'

Andrew Hassan, medical director at NHS Suffolk yesterday said he would not comment on individual cases.

But he said St Richard's Hospital in Chichester had a 'responsibility' to provide the best care for all its patients.

* An article of October 14, 2009, 'Just one in six benefit claimants
is genuine', suggested the number of people claiming incapacity benefit
has soared from 67,000 when Labour came to power to 2.63million today.

We are happy to clarify that this figure relates to the number of
people who were claiming benefits for five years or more in 1997, when
the number of incapacity benefit claimants was 2.61million.